


Futility

by SuperNerd92



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Black Eagles Route, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Black Eagles Route Spoilers, Gen, Without a happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-03
Updated: 2020-02-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:16:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22547650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuperNerd92/pseuds/SuperNerd92
Summary: One-shot. An alternate ending to the Crimson Flower route where Edelgard loses a decisive battle... but does anyone really "win"?This story was completely inspired by this awesome art on twitter!MAJOR SPOILERS for the game in both the art and this fic, obviously!
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd & Dedue Molinaro
Comments: 13
Kudos: 46





	Futility

Dimitri’s bloody lance trailed behind him, scouring the ground as he wandered the battlefield in a daze. The rain still poured, soaking through the matted blood and dirt on his fur cloak, but he barely noticed. 

The battle was over, and he still wasn’t sure how the combined Kingdom and Church forces had managed to eke out a victory. Would the story of the corpses, the tale of the dead, give him those answers? He didn’t know, but he would find out. 

It had begun to look hopeless when his army had become separated from Rhea and her Knights, the heavy rain snarling their communications and fouling the planned pincer attack. Desperation and dread filled them all as the much larger army, Edelgard at its head, pressed down on them. 

So desperate, in fact, that his men began to sacrifice their own lives to become those horrific Demonic Beasts. Yet their sacrifices - it was too unholy, too _wrong_ , to be called “noble” sacrifices - barely slowed her down. 

He stopped at what had once been the western flank of his army. The men had become beasts in the greatest numbers here. By the end, practically only Sylvain had retained his mind and form. 

All the better to face Felix, allied with the Imperial forces for reasons Dimitri still couldn’t fathom. Felix had hated him, hated the _boar_ , but to kill his own father at Arianrhod… and not just him, but Ingrid, who’d loved Glenn more than any of them… 

_Why? What did Edelgard stand for that was worth_ this _, Felix?_

In the end, the two childhood friends’ final duel had ended in a grisly draw. The Lance of Ruin, still pulsing like a living thing, was buried in Felix’s chest. Sylvain’s armor hadn’t much helped against the precision of Felix’s sword. His body was stained red - blood from the dozens of cuts that had finally overwhelmed him. 

Dimitri stood staring at them for a long time. They - and Ingrid - had been his closest friends for as long as he could remember. They’d grown up together, truly each others’ peers, in that way that only children of noble houses of the Kingdom could be. And now… he’d lost all of them.

He wanted to pray, but the words wouldn’t come. He wanted to scream, but his voice wouldn’t come. 

He trudged towards the eastern flank, no less decimated. Edelgard and her main force had broken through before most of the men even had a chance to conduct the horrific transformations. 

There was Mercedes, cut down by her own brother’s scythe. The so-called Death Knight himself lay not far from her. Another family, another House, whose line ended here. 

And a little beyond her... Edelgard and the rest of her vanguard. 

War wasn't a storybook. He’d not had the satisfaction of facing Edelgard himself, winning his vengeance, demanding the answers that would salve his anger. The battlefield had been so chaotic that nobody could even tell him who had struck her down.

Her corpse had been the final skirmish. Hubert, as loyal as a retainer ought to be, fought like a madman in a vain effort to protect it, but he, too, lay dead. 

No living soldiers remained, now, an hour after the battle. But looming over the Emperor’s body was a great beast, larger than the rest, standing its two hind legs.

The beast had been cut and slashed in a hundred places. It shuddered and wheezed with every breath. Dimitri couldn’t see how it was still standing. It had borne the brunt of the enemy attack - in truth, been the only reason he was still alive now. That single creature had bought enough time for Rhea, the Knights, and her mysterious Golems to take Edelgard’s army from behind. 

The beast saw him. It lurched towards him. It lowered its great, horned head towards him. Dimitri raised a trembling hand and set it on the beast’s jaw.

“Dedue…” 

The _thing_ that had once been his loyal retainer shuddered in response to the name. Was Dedue still in there, somewhere? Trapped in this cursed form? It was too terrible to contemplate.

“It worked, Dedue. You saved me. But to do something like this to yourself, it’s, it’s…” 

Now the tears came. Dimitri was barely able to see through them as he lifted Areadbhar... and delivered one last thrust. 

**Author's Note:**

> Had to also slip in CF Felix and tragic Sylvix, obviously.


End file.
